Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Exodus 34:7 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 7. 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
At 34:7, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…” narrows the reader's attention to the person, object, instruction, danger, gift, or outcome active in this section.
Hew new tables like the first, and come up alone
This verse is one part of that explanation in Exodus 34:1–9. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Exodus 34:1–9
Read Exodus 34:7 with 34:1–9. At 34:7, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…” narrows the reader's attention to the person, object, instruction, danger, gift, or outcome active in this section. The whole unit shows: Moses prepares replacement tablets, ascends alone, hears the divine name and a formula of mercy, loyalty, forgiveness, and continuing judgment, then asks God to remain with the people.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Replacement tablets and the divine character proclamation answer covenant rupture and Moses' plea for presence, while holding mercy, loyalty, forgiveness, and continuing judgment together. Within the book's larger movement, this unit makes the following contribution: Moses prepares replacement tablets, ascends alone, hears the divine name and a formula of mercy, loyalty, forgiveness, and continuing judgment, then asks God to remain with the people. At 34:7, the wording “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…” makes this verse's contribution precise. At 34:7, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…” narrows the reader's attention to the person, object, instruction, danger, gift, or outcome active in this section.
Read Exodus 34:5–9 together
Why these verses belong together: Name, mercy, loyalty, forgiveness, and judgment forms one grammatical or narrative sequence and should not be divided into independent slogans.
Verse 5. 5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Verse 6. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Verse 7. 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Verse 8. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
Verse 9. 9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
Follow the Context
- The unit opens at 34:1 with this development: Moses prepares replacement tablets, ascends alone, hears the divine name and a formula of mercy, loyalty, forgiveness, and continuing judgment, then asks God to remain with the people.
- By 34:9, the narrated speech, instruction, action, or outcome has completed the movement named “New Tablets and the Divine Character Proclamation.”
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…”
In plain language: At 34:7, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…” narrows the reader's attention to the person, object, instruction, danger, gift, or outcome active in this section.
Moses prepares replacement tablets, ascends alone, hears the divine name and a formula of mercy, loyalty, forgiveness, and continuing judgment, then asks God to remain with the people. The phrase belongs to 34:1–9.
Why it matters: Careful interpreters agree that the received text states the following: Moses prepares replacement tablets, ascends alone, hears the divine name and a formula of mercy, loyalty, forgiveness, and continuing judgment, then asks God to remain with the people. They disagree over source layers, date, historical recovery, archaeology, Hebrew details, ritual development, legal use, and canonical relationship in different proportions; this study treats the final form directly while marking those alternatives as probable or uncertain rather than settled fact.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The language of continuing consequences does not make descendants personally guilty for an ancestor's sin or justify punishing children for parental wrongdoing. Read Exodus 34:7 with 34:1–9. Divine-presence language does not make a building, leader, nation, or emotional experience immune from review, and partial revelation does not support speculative descriptions of God. In context, At 34:7, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…” narrows the reader's attention to the person, object, instruction, danger, gift, or outcome active in this section.
What Remains True
Because Exodus 34:7 contributes “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…” to “New Tablets and the Divine Character Proclamation,” its proportionate enduring truth is: After rupture, the book's deepest question is whether and how the holy God will remain among a vulnerable, resistant people without destroying them.
Teach It Back
Explain why Exodus 34:7 says “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity…” inside 34:1–9. Name its actor and effect, one historical, Hebrew, compositional, legal, ritual, or ethical limit, one person or group bearing risk, and one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Exodus 34:1–9 — New Tablets and the Divine Character ProclamationSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Exodus 34:7 remains inside this material limit: Careful interpreters agree that the received text states the following: Moses prepares replacement tablets, ascends alone, hears the divine name and a formula of mercy, loyalty, forgiveness, and continuing judgment, then asks God to remain with the people. They disagree over source layers, date, historical recovery, archaeology, Hebrew details, ritual development, legal use, and canonical relationship in different proportions; this study treats the final form directly while marking those alternatives as probable or uncertain rather than settled fact.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Exodus 34:1–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Exodus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech, law, ritual vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Exod.xml, words and morphology for 34:1–9
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Exodus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded Hebrew, syntax, lexical, textual, name, measure, legal, ritual, and older-English notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Exodus PDF, complete 127-page PDF, translation and verse-attached translator notes for 34:1–9
Open source ↗open university course study guide
The Golden Calf Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and John J. Collins
Yale Bible Study, 2019 course edition
Supports: Leadership vacuum, image worship, narrative and political-religious background, covenant rupture, lethal response, renewed presence, and source alternatives.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'The Golden Calf,' complete study guide pp. 1–5, calf, Jeroboam relationship, covenant breach, intercession, Levite violence, presence, divine character, and Exodus 34; applied to Exodus 34:1–9
Open source ↗open university course study guide
Sinai Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and John J. Collins
Yale Bible Study, 2019 course edition
Supports: Mountain location uncertainty, covenant and treaty comparison, source plurality, mediation, Decalogue, covenant blood, and priestly dwelling instruction.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Sinai,' complete study guide pp. 1–6, covenant, Moses and the mountain, Decalogue, Exodus 24, and tabernacle framing; applied to Exodus 34:1–9
Open source ↗ancient near eastern comparative architecture study
The Tabernacle in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context
Michael M. Homan
TheTorah.com, 2018
Supports: Architectural and ritual comparanda, pattern language, movement, possible historical models, and explicit reconstruction limits.
Exact location: Homan, 'The Tabernacle in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context,' complete article sections on form, furnishings, shown pattern, temple-building parallels, portability, and historical-versus-literary models; applied to Exodus 34:1–9
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly material and literary study
The Materiality of a Divine Dwelling
Jonathan Ben-Dov
TheTorah.com, 2017
Supports: Material-source theology, skilled labor, voluntary gifts, half-shekel assessment, manufactured holiness, and the limits of idealized production language.
Exact location: Ben-Dov, 'The Materiality of a Divine Dwelling,' complete article sections on Exodus 20 and 25–40, donated and assessed materials, craft, manufactured objects, and divine presence; applied to Exodus 34:1–9
Open source ↗